F1: Saudi Arabia GP – live updates | Formula One

It is also worth mentioning that the F1 Traveling to Saudi Arabia, much like the kingdom’s interests in football, carries with it all the asterisks of sports washing, human rights and geopolitical soft power.

Mustafa al-Khayyat was one of 81 men. On Thursday, his brother Yasser al-Khayyat wrote to F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali saying he had only been executed for taking part in pro-democracy protests and argued that F1’s presence in the Kingdom had encouraged the authorities to act harshly. and without remorse.

“They are using the spectacle of this sports championship to distract from the murder of my brother and hundreds of others,” he wrote. “The grand prix that normally takes place, not even mentioning the atrocities that have just been committed on this very soil, legitimizes these heinous crimes.

“Silence is complicity. This is how the regime gets away with its atrocities and suppresses calls for democratic reforms. If you really want Formula 1 to be an agent of change, rather than a tool to ‘wash the sport’ of Saudi abuse, please end the silence of Formula 1.”

Alonso, second on the grid, is another storyline to follow. Man lives only to run.

If a Verstappen title is a fait accomplithen Lewis Hamilton’s search for an eighth world title and where that might take him will be a major timeline of this season.

“If Lewis wants to win another championship he has to make sure he has the car,” Wolff said. “And if we can’t demonstrate that we’re capable of giving him a car in the next two years, he’ll have to look everywhere. I don’t think he will at this stage, but I won’t have any complaints if that happens in a year or two.

Red Bull could have a vacancy at the end of the year with Sergio Pérez operating on a 12-month contract, but it seems unlikely that Hamilton will be paired alongside Verstappen. Ferrari is a possible avenue to explore if Charles Leclerc decides to move away.

Hamilton at Ferrari has to happen, right?

Here’s a recap of Saturday’s rather chaotic qualifying.

Pérez’s time of 1min 28.265 proved enough to claim just the second pole of his career, having taken first place here in 2022. Leclerc improved to take second place and was only a tenth and a half back, showing some of the form Ferrari had hoped to show in Jeddah. However, Leclerc is handed a 10-place grid penalty for winning his third electronic control unit of the season with just one race under his belt. Alonso continued a highly successful season opener with third, just four tenths behind. Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz was fifth.

For Mercedes’ George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, fourth and eighth respectively, it was exactly what the team expected. Mercedes admitted after Bahrain that they continued with the wrong design concept and decided to go in a new direction. Qualifying in Jeddah, certainly for Russell, may have been better than they had expected, but he was still six-tenths off pole with Hamilton almost a second away, a glaring confirmation of the distance that they had to travel.

You wanted the excitement of this F1 season, and now you have it, with the news that Sergio Perez is on pole and Max Verstappen is back in 15th place. Turn on the Yello, “The Race” is launched. Meanwhile, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso will line up second because Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has a 10-place grid penalty for engine use. Thus, two of the main protagonists will be in midfield for much of the race. George Russell, in the Merc in third, while Lewis Hamilton growls in seventh. Jeddah has been a long and unforgiving track for the cars in its two previous editions, although Turns 22 and 23 have been tightened and the walls have receded at several corners, due to safety concerns with fast and blind corners . This is also performed at night.

Grid positions

• 1) Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

• 2) Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

• 3) George Russell (Mercedes)

• 4) Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

• 5) Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

• 6) Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

• 7) Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

• 8) Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

• 9) Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

• 10) Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)

• 11) Zhou Guanyu (Alfa)

• 12) Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

• 13) Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

• 14) Valtteri Bottas (Alfa)

• 15) Max Verstappen (Red Bull

• 16) Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri)

• 17) Alex Albon (Williams)

• 18) Nyck de Vries (Alpha Tauri)

• 19) Lando Norris (McLaren)

• 20) Logan Sargeant (Williams)

The lights go out at 5:00 p.m. GMT. Meet me.